Cling and Clatter
by accaliarue
Summary: Casey arrives home after her first semester of college.


**Author's Note: **This fic is extremely A.U. (Alternate Universe), meaning that the settings and characterization have been deliberately changed. It follows canon through Season One. The backstory: The McDonalds and Venturis moved to Brookhaven after Season One, when George's father died, to help run the family farm. Then George died, and Nora decided to stay in Brookhaven with the kids. That's all I want to say without giving away the plot. It's meant to be a little confusing.

I'm only posting the prologue now because I am unsure about this fic, and I'm interested to see whether you guys think I should continue it.

**Prologue**

Casey McDonald closed her eyes and grasped her armrests as the plane began its descent, attempting to ignore the fact that it felt like her stomach was about to have an unpleasant experience with the barf bag sticking out of the seat in front of her. Not for the first time, she seriously regretted not having taken into consideration her fear of flying when she chose to attend a university on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Her decision to go to Oxford University was made the moment she received the acceptance letter. At the time, all she wanted was to get as far away as possible, and the acceptance and scholarship from Oxford gave her the change to escape.

Escaping hadn't been as easy as Casey thought it would be. The scholarship covered tuition, room and board, but she hadn't taken into consideration just how expensive living and studying abroad would be. After nearly going broke halfway through her first semester, Casey found a job working part-time at a local pub. It was hard work, and the pay barely helped her make it through each month, but it was better than having to turn to her family for help.

It wasn't as though her family _wouldn't _help her, Casey just couldn't muster up the courage to ask for it. Not after she had left them at a time when they needed her the most. Her mother had encouraged her, but she would never forget the looks on her brother's and sister's faces when they said goodbye at the gate. Derek hadn't even been there at all.

_Derek. _It had been six months since she had even spoken to him, but as always, his face had an annoying habit of flashing before her eyes every time she began to think of home. And that inevitably unleashed all the emotions she was desperately trying to keep at bay.

"Welcome to Prince Albert Airport," the pilot announced over the loudspeaker.

Casey opened her eyes as the seatbelt light went off, letting out a nervous sigh of relief.

She was home.

_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_

The terminal was, not surprisingly, empty. Casey followed the handful of passengers that had been on her connecting flight from Toronto to baggage claim, her eyes darting around the small crowd for a familiar face. Then she saw him standing off to the side, his hands shoved inside his jacket.

He was looking at the ground, and for a moment, she just stared, taking in the sight of him. For some reason, she had expected him to look as different as she felt. She had hoped he would be different. Different enough to make it easier. He was exactly the same. A little more scruffy, perhaps, but exactly the same.

She had no idea how long she had been staring at him before he finally looked up, seeing her there before him. He pushed himself away from the wall and started towards her, but Casey couldn't move. She tightened the grip on her messenger bag, wishing that she could somehow disappear.

Before she could find an escape route, however, Derek had closed the space between them. "Hey," he said softly.

"Where's my mom?" Casey asked automatically, inwardly flinching at the choice of greeting.

Derek sighed. "Marti has a bad case of diarrhea."

"Sounds fun," Casey said, screwing up her nose.

"Yeah," Derek said, deadpanned. "You get to come home to a house that smells like shit."

"Well, I'm sure I probably deserve it," Casey said softly.

"Do you need help with your bags?" Derek asked pointedly, walking over to the baggage claim.

"I can get them myself," Casey told him stubbornly, reaching for her luggage.

She had forgotten how heavy they were. Physically exhausted by the long flight, she could barely pull the luggage off the belt, and by the time she had gotten the first one off the belt, the second one had already passed. Derek quickly went around to the other side, picking up the suitcase with ease.

"Give me that one," Derek said, reaching out for the suitcase.

Casey glared at him. "I can carry them myself."

"Would you just let me carry the goddamn suitcase?!" Derek exclaimed, his patience beginning to wear thin.

"Fine," Casey said, too tired to argue with him. "Let's go."

"Fine," Derek snapped at her, taking the suitcase.

Without another word, he turned and stormed out of the terminal.

_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_

Casey stared out the window into the darkness. There were no lights lining the highway, only miles and miles of never-ending prarie, a few farm houses spread out in the distance. This emptiness was what she had found herself missing in Scotland, the very emptiness she had despised so much when they had first moved to Brookhaven.

They had moved to Brookhaven two years ago, after Derek's grandfather passed away. It was only supposed to be for the summer, to help Derek's grandmother with the farm. Then George died. Casey 's heart constricted and she swallowed the lump beginning to form in her throat, forcing herself to think of something else.

She stole a sideways glance at Derek, who had not spoken to her since they left the airport. And for the first time since she had known him, Casey found that she had absolutely no idea what to say to him. She shifted in her seat, burrowing her body deeper into her coat.

"You cold?" Derek grunted suddenly, breaking the silence.

It took Casey a second to realize that he was talking to her.

"A little," she admitted as her teeth began to chatter. "I'd forgotten how cold it can get here."

Using one hand to steer, Derek shrugged off his jacket. "Here," he said, tossing it to her. "This should help."

"Aren't you cold?" Casey protested.

"Nah," Derek told her. "I'm used to it."

"Thanks," Casey said, draping the jacket over her body as Derek turned up the heat.

"You should warm up in a bit," he said, turning his attention back on the road.

They fell into silence again, the only sound coming from the mixed c.d. Derek had slipped in once the radio signals faded.

"Do you like it?"

Casey blinked. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Oxford... England..." Derek said slowly. "Do you like it?"

Casey wanted to tell him how much she missed him. She wanted to tell him that she hated it, hated being so far away from home, hated being so homesick all the time. She wanted him to hold her and make everything better, but she couldn't ask him to do that anymore.

Instead, she lied. "It's great."

"Yeah," Derek said, a bit wistfully. "I can't even imagine doing something like that. You're… it's good that you got out."

Casey sighed. "Derek…"

"Don't," Derek told her, cutting her off. "Let's just… save the deep stuff for later, okay?"

"Yeah," Casey said softly. "Okay."

_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_


End file.
